Pentachoron
by Phoenyxx
Summary: When the Tesseract was activated, no one predicted that an event parallel to their universe would draw in another villain along with a child that could potentially catalyze the Avengers Initiative into motion. Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., Mr. Richard Grayson.
1. Chapter 1

**Pentachoron**

**A/N:** Because the new Avengers movie is pretty damn _aster_.

**Characters:** The Avengers movie-verse characters. Young Justice animated-verse Robin a.k.a. Richard Grayson. Robin will be just a bit past 14 in this, meaning that this happens a few months after the end of Season 1 YJ.

* * *

Anomaly One and Anomaly Two.

What S.H.I.E.L.D. has dubbed as Anomaly One and Anomaly Two were two organic entities that appeared near the outskirts of the totalled Project Pegasus facility. They arrived via a portal born from the sky twenty minutes into the search and rescue effort for survivors of the Tesseract fallout. Agent Maria Hill was the one who witnessed the anomalies plunge through the bright influx of light radiation, rolling solidly onto the blast-burned ground from the two storey drop. And when her fellows surrounded the two in a loose circle, she watched as Anomaly Two neutralized three men with an electric laser and grabbed and threatened to 'blast out the brains' of Anomaly One if they came any closer.

Luckily, the threat was not followed through. Unfortunately, that distraction allowed the escape of Anomaly Two, leaving Anomaly One in their hands.

Director Nick Fury contemplated as he observed the fidgety child, Anomaly One, seated in his interrogation room. The noir-haired boy – dusty, sooty and a little worse for wear – was currently swinging his legs, lips pulled downward, blue eyes afar in drifted thought. Bioscanners mounted in the room spat out readings that indicated a normal _Homo sapiens_ at rest and the bit of blood they were able to take indicated no enhancements, no mutations and no experimental drugs in his system.

No abnormalities.

Anomaly One was one-hundred percent human.

Dressed in clearly expensive pressed slacks, fitted white shirt and tailored blazer, his clothing was finely stitched and made of high quality materials; Hill had even reported hand embroidered _shirt tails_ that she made note of after forcibly grabbing the boy around his middle to prevent Anomaly Two's energy blast from clipping his head.

Fury flipped open Hill's report and scanned through it.

"…Minor skin abrasions…Refusing to divulge personal information…Doctors indicated signs of trauma…"

The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. took another glance at the spaced-out child sitting in the interrogation room and formulated his questions. He needed to find out more about Anomaly Two, the terrorist that killed ten of his already injured agents during his escape, and the best way to do that was to grill Anomaly One who he believed was the accomplice.

* * *

The door of the interrogation room opened, allowing him to step past the threshold, and he closed it with a smart click. The room itself was nothing special – generic, stark and impersonal with grey walls, linoleum floor, one-way mirror and white ceiling tiles. Sitting inside this room, however, was their person of interest. Anomaly One.

"Uhm." The young boy clasped his hands in his lap, twisting his fingers as if trying to contain his nervous energy. He had intense, sapphire-shaded eyes that regarded him with _polite_ confusion.

Nick Fury stalked to his seat and eased into it, all the while stalling as he considered the boy in front of him. If the boy was as 'traumatized wealthy civilian' as he looked, trained rigid posture included, then he didn't want to be the one to trigger the rich brat to squall in terror. He tried the 'nice' approach. "What is your name, son?"

The child offered a tentative, shaky smile. "I…Uhm…"

Fury thought idly, "_Good…No tantrums…"_ But then-

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." The boy blatantly stared at his black eye patch, while his right foot tapped against the leg of his chair when he shifted, and he blurted out, "Are you a bad guy?"

His frown intensified."I'm not a 'bad guy', son. I want to help you find your family." _And find out where the hell you came from and how you crash landed on the smoldering ruins of our secret facility._

"Oh. Sorry. That was probably a stu– I mean, silly – question anyway. " The boy, flushing a bright red, swung his left leg three times before he stalled. He hemmed out the words, "Is that why I'm waiting in this room?"

"Yes, and if you tell me your name and where you're from, the sooner we can get you home."

"…You're the police?"

_Semantics._ "…Yes. I work for the American government."

Anomaly One hummed under his breath and jerkily nodded, "Okay."

Silence pervaded the room as the boy swung both legs under his seat before he seemed to remember himself and stilled. _"Patience."_ Fury glowered at the child. "Then your name is."

"I…" The kid, still jittery but putting on a brave face, tilted his head with juvenile innocence. "What's yours, sir?"

"My name is Nick Fury." He waited a bit more, right eye narrowed to a dangerous slit.

"Nick Fury…" A smile lit up the tiny face, oblivious to his anger. "Hey! Our names rhyme!"

"Enough." Fury ignored the urge to rub his left temple. "Your _name_," he emphasized.

With a pitchy childish voice, Anomaly One declared, "Dick."

The Director stared at the boy flatly, dark eyes boring into his. The child, commendable for his courage to face against his questioning wrath, squirmed for awhile before he broke the uncomfortable silence, ears turning red. "My name is Dick."

Over the comm. link in his ear, he could hear the agent observing them through the one-way mirror shift as they typed out the name.

But it was still not good enough. Fury prompted, "Your full name."

Again, the _polite_ smile made an appearance as the red embarrassment receded into boyish, snobbish charm. "Richard Grayson. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Nick Fury sir."

He knew that the agent watching them began a search in their database for a 'Richard Grayson' and variants with 'Dick'.

Fury stood up from his seat and rounded onto the next question. "Where are you from, Mr. Grayson?"

The height-challenged boy seemed vaguely putout and confused by the question as he asked honestly, "I…You don't know me?"

Fury paused. The agent hidden in the other room began to type furiously into the keyboard as they both picked up the implied 'celebrity' in those words.

At the silence, the boy's shoulders slumped forward and as his fingers fidgeted with his meticulously tucked in shirt while the astonishing blue eyes watched him guardedly. "No…You don't look like GCPD…I guess we're not anywhere near Gotham City?"

Ten seconds pass and the agent in the other room whispered over the link – for his ears only. "Gotham City, Wisconsin. Population close to two hundred. There are no records of a Richard Grayson existing in Gotham City. No Richard Grayson in the news either."

Nick Fury glared at the boy when he heard the information and the boy seemed to react to his glare as azure eyes widened. "You're currently in the _custody_ of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, also known as S.H.I.E.L.D., Mr. Grayson, an organization dedicated to protecting the American home land." There were heavy implications in the air.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Anomaly One flinched and turned his head to stare at the one-way mirror, swinging his legs again. This time, he did not stop.

"I want your full name. The name of your parents. The city you live in."

"But I just told you most of that already…"

"I'm warning you this one time. I want your full cooperation, son."

"But I _am_ cooperating!" There was a bit of teenage rebellion in that voice before the boy deflated, "I told you, my name is Richard Grayson – Richard John Grayson. Dick is my nickname. My real parents…They died in an…'accident'." The boy looked at Fury with mourning eyes, the edges of his mouth tightening to a painful line. "Bruce Wayne is kind of my guardian. I'm his ward so I obviously live in Gotham City."

Fury noted that the boy was fidgeting in his seat again, shoulders slumping further when he realized that his information garnered next to no reaction from Fury; the words 'Bruce Wayne', 'ward' and '_obviously_ Gotham' were meaningless. Fury grumbled, "Alright then, _Mr. Grayson. _Tell me. Who was that man with you?"

"I don't know." Grayson's young face smoothed into an unhappy frown.

The Director growled, "That's not a helpful answer, Mr. Grayson. Who was that man and what did he want from you?"

"I really don't know...I think he was trying to kidnap me."

Fury threw his kid gloves into the wind when his voice deepened into an intimidating snarl, warning, "I have people reporting to me the last words of your companion – that you were 'of no use to him here'. Don't lie, _boy_. You are – were – his _accomplice_."

"I'm not!" Grayson cried out hotly, toeing the line of _tantrum_ – a line that Fury had earlier wanted to avoid. "That crazy guy was keeping me _hostage_. I thought you said you're the police! Why don't you believe me?"

Agent Hill's voice interrupted him just as he was about to respond; she reported through the comm. "Sir. We have Loki."

Nick Fury stared down at the visibly distressed Anomaly One before coolly sweeping out of the room.

He'll send in Black Widow later when Loki was taken care of.

* * *

With the door closing behind that 'Nick Fury' character, insecure mathlete and ward of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne took a backseat.

_Definitely not in Kansas anymore, Robin._

Lounging in the interrogation chair for 'long enough', Robin stood up to stretch his legs, mind going a mile a minute as he registered the implications of what this 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' organization discovered on him. Unnoticed during the earlier chaos, he had hacked into their communications system upon entry into their helicarrier and managed to hide a comm. link in his ear, eavesdropping on his captors via bug as they researched him.

What he found out nearly stilled his heart and led him to one conclusion:_ alternate dimensions._

Richard 'Dick' Grayson didn't exist.

Gotham City was not the Gotham City he knew either. There were definitely more than two hundred criminals in Arkham Asylum alone, never mind the entire civilian population of Gotham.

"This is…" He huffed and continued to pace, agitated.

He needed to find a way back home. There was a stray villain loose in this world that could possibly be his only link to doing things like _crossing dimensions_ but he was currently stuck up in a gigantic helicarrier being babysat by a top secret government organization, or something.

…A government organization that he hoped wouldn't connect one with two only to get funny ideas. He had purposefully revealed a part of his story in order to get returning information. And perhaps with an unhealthy dose of wishful thinking, he had hoped this government organization wouldn't link the information he advertently gave them to an Area 51 conclusion like 'this boy is an alien. We need to experiment on him and find his origins' kind of thing.

Il_logical logical sci-fi movie thinking. KF would be laughing._

Robin walked circles in the small enclosure of the room, maintaining his troubled rich kid persona for the cameras. He knew that Bruce saw him disappear in Wayne Tech labs with the villain and that the Justice League still had the other half of what the villain was trying to take from them. Maybe they would figure out a way to bring him home from here – wherever 'here' was.

Yes, they would. He would take comfort in that notion for now because he believed in the Batman.

In the interim, though, he couldn't just sit here like a damsel in distress and uselessly wait for the cavalry to arrive…

He was Robin, the Boy Wonder, and it was time for an escape plan for one Richard Grayson.


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning:** Inappropriate jokes. Blame Mr. Stark's no-filter mouth.

* * *

Meeting adjourned, Agent Maria Hill waited until the eclectic group of 'heroes' a part of the Avengers Initiative left the ship deck before approaching Director Fury. "Sir."

"Agent Hill."

"Sir, about the boy…Anomaly One." Hill remarked, "We have agents standing by."

Fury regarded her coolly. "Loki is our first priority now."

"Yessir. And Anomaly Two? We have more than sufficient data to indicate that the appearance of Anomaly One and Anomaly Two was caused by the Tesseract." She pulled up the energy readings onto the computer screen.

Scrolling through the data, Fury considered the implications of the Tesseract being used as a dimension hopping portal by someone other than Loki and the Chitauri. Hill, who was privy to the details of the interrogation, knew that this would fit with the current information Anomaly One revealed. Anomaly One couldn't exist in their database if he never existed in the first place. However, he was also sure that Anomaly One was not speaking the whole truth and was hiding something…

After a long pause, Hill asked, "Is he a part of Loki's forces?"

"Who. Anomaly One or Anomaly Two?"

Both agents turned their attentions to the security footage of the locked interrogation room where Anomaly One was currently resting his head on the table, sleeping.

* * *

Standing in the 'nonexistent' blind spot to trick his captors to panic and enter the interrogation room? That was the oldest trick in the book. Then reactivating the electronic lock, breaking into the room beyond the one-way mirror and stealing away onto their computer system, allowing him to play with the security footage as he pleased? The little loop of him sleeping was certainly a nice touch, in his modest opinion.

Robin allowed a small eerie cackle as he displaced his current distraught ("Well, get _traught_ or get _dead_.") with a little snooping.

Child's play.

He leaned into the cushy straight-backed chair, feeling a little guilty for knocking out the agents in charge of him and tossing them into his interrogation room. However, it was the only way to get secure access to their computer database without alerting the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization. It was better to save the hacking for now if he can get into their files through legitimate means.

"Let's see."

He typed in 'Justice League' and hit the 'search' command.

The computer processed his request and came back with a big, red 'ERROR' and 'ZERO RESULTS FOUND'.

Swallowing the sudden unease, he mentally chided, "_You were expecting this Robin_."

His left index finger rested on the letter 'b' before deciding he wasn't that much of a masochist and redirected them across the keyboard, typing in 'Pentachoron'; he waited for the computer to process the word when, again, 'ZERO RESULTS FOUND' was written on the screen.

Robin cracked his knuckles and went about his search another way. One word was shared by his captors – both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the original villain that brought him here – and he intended to find out what they were looking for. He knew it wasn't a coincidence and being trained by Batman as a detective didn't help his beliefs in whimsical notions like _coincidences_ anyway.

_'Tesseract'._

It was almost immediate. As soon as the word was entered, the computer green-lighted and mass amounts of data revolving the Cosmic Cube began scrolling rapidly down the screen

Jackpot.

* * *

"– Who let the kid in here?" exclaimed Tony Stark as he entered the built-in lab of the helicarrier.

Dr. Bruce Banner, who trailed behind him in the hallway, warned, "You're setting yourself up for that one there Tony."

"Ha ha. Funny." Tony deadpanned and moved in, discreetly palming a pair of scissors that rested on the nearest bench because this was _S.H.I.E.L.D._ territory and there was an unknown kid hanging around like he owned the place. "No seriously, when did you hire an assistant? I know they like to start young these days but this kid still looks to be in his learning diapers."

Bruce peeked over Tony's shoulder, eyeing the stranger inquisitively. What he saw was a scrawny scamp spinning on one of the laboratory stools; he couldn't help but zero in on the gelled black hair and stuffy clothing - a type of dress that would be picked on in public schools.

But there was something off about him that was setting _him_ on edge…

The scientist shook his head. _Focus_. If only to annoy the egotistical billionaire in front of him because he certainly had enough anger to spare, Bruce clapped a hand on Tony's shoulder and quipped, "Oh. There really is another child in here."

"You wound me, Bruce. Right here." The man tapped the arc reactor mockingly with his right hand, left hand still conspicuously tucked away, unseen.

"That's like generating an electromagnetic field. It doesn't store emotions." The small boy offhandedly said before he stopped spinning in the chair and blinked at them with guileless azure eyes. "By the way, it's nice to meet you both, Dr. Banner, Iron Man."

Bruce's hands clenched the sides of his trousers nervously, wrinkling the material. The boy was definitely triggering his paranoia.

"Oh. A 'smart kid'." Tony took a few more steps towards the youngster in a casual manner. "You have a name?"

"My name's Richard Grayson-"

"-You're a Dick!-"

His lips quirked upwards in an almost acknowledgement.

Bruce sighed, "Don't mind him kid – Richard-"

"Don't be a prude!" Tony casually leaned against the cabinet near the computers. "But you know, billionaire playboys still have to draw some lines in the sand against off-colour male sex organ jokes."

"'Male sex organ'?" quoted Bruce dryly.

"Doctor! There's a child in here." Said 'billionaire playboy' deliberately sneered, "Fine, I meant tiny pe-"

Richard, small boy with a surprisingly loud voice, talked over their banter. "-I have a proposition for you, Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark."

There was silence. _Proposition?_

"-And we just nosedived into awkward." Tony shrugged and added, "From penis jokes to propositions – not that I _haven't_ been propositioned by jailbait before but let's not. Please."

Before Bruce could initiate damage control, Grayson went into a digression, all innocent eyes. "A little birdie told me you don't trust S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You're saying it like it's a secret when it's not really one at all." Iron Man crossed his arms, unimpressed. "And don't tell me Fury sent you here to do his dirty work." Feeling the stare bore a hole into his head, Tony told off Bruce, "Hey. He could be a master assassin that Fury's setting on us like a mad dog."

With a soft exhale, the scientist decided to ignore his lab partner and asked Richard, "Did Director Fury leave you here with us, Richard?"

But Tony would have none of that as Bruce suffered through another diatribe. "First off, Doctor, you should be asking why S.H.I.E.L.D. would have an underage boy running around a top secret base of operations." Stark paused. "And besides that, Fury must have missed the memo saying that it was the Captain that's starting the babysitting club. Something about a good old-fashioned approved job." The unsuited Iron Man jabbed a thumb in Bruce's direction and stage-whispered at Richard, "And that career choice definitely can't be for this guy beside me. Crying kids make him rage."

"O-kay…Off tangent much?" The boy swung his legs out childishly as he drawled, "You're not my babysitters. I was curious about all of this-" Here, he paused long enough to wave at the surrounding area. "-so I came here."

"Curious." Bruce repeated in a neutral tone, trying not to sound defensive because it was just a _prepubescent teen_ but failing miserably. "About what?" He couldn't help but notice how the kid was sitting between them and Loki's weapon.

"I like computers and that's like a prerequisite to hacking." The implications were there as Richard seemed to bounce in his seat, grinning. "So, you know, I was doing a bit of a look around in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system – harmless stuff using _legit-ti-mate_ ways – and saw _you_ hacking into it with a rather neat but detectable program."

Bruce couldn't stop and filter the comment before it left his mouth. "…What happened to 'twenty minutes and we'll have answers'?"

The man with the mechanical suit of armor blurted out, "I'm me. With ten minutes to build the codes while playing agony aunt to a certain guy that goes green with anger."

His words may have been a bit strangled at Stark's unapologetic dismissal. "I – well - y_ou_ - you have an _ego._" Dr. Banner crossed his arms, unwilling to believe that Fury was deliberately trying his patience by pairing him up with Tony Stark. "_Detectable_? Why not a flashy billboard sign?"

"Been there. Done that. Haven't you watched the news?" Tony grinned, "Stark Tower? A masterpiece added to the N.Y.C. skyline, thank you very much."

With a certain glint of mischief in his eyes, Richard, all groomed politeness, interrupted them to steer the conversation back on track, "Since the program was detectable, Mr. Stark's invasive codes were kinda impressive because the firewalls didn't kick him out."

"Only 'kinda'?" preened the billionaire.

Richard shrugged, "Well...Your program wasn't completely receptive to my...coding but it was fun _directing_ it to run around the maze to dig out information. You were trying to find out the real plans for the Tesseract, right?"

Stark remarked, "And let me guess, you were too? Because that's a really _amazing_ coincidence-"

"I kinda don't believe in coincidences…And Mr. Stark, you don't want to press the lockdown button." Richard grinned, perking up in his seat again. "You seriously don't want to press it. It includes a trap that'll gas us all to sleep."

"I wasn't-" But Tony _was_, noticed Bruce, because his right hand was hovering inches above the shiny blue button behind the computer console that would have had the lab in steel-door lockdown.

_How did little Richard see him?_

"And those scissors? They're safety scissors. Are you going to try and attack me with _safety scissors_?"

"Uh." Bruce gave Tony a well-deserved 'what were you thinking?' look and the billionaire gave him a cocky shrug.

"_Totally whelming_."

Grayson let slip an eerie, out-of-place cackle.

Naturally, the two older geniuses tensed perceptibly.

"…Just who are you?" Dr. Banner asked, voice laced with paranoia.

Stark tossed the safety scissors over his shoulder without looking. "I _told_ you Fury sic'd a mini Black Widow on us!"

A voice from the hallway interrupted the Iron Man's semi-hysterics. "I found out what their original plans were for the Tesseract." New arrival Captain Steve Rogers stalked into the laboratory, only to stop short when he saw Richard sitting by – guarding – Loki's weapon with Tony and Bruce at the perimeter. "What's going on? And is that a kid in here?"

"Nice of you to join us Captain," sneered Stark. "You were saying? Tesseract?"

"Boy. In top secret ship." Steve retorted, glaring down at Tony. "Let's get the priorities straight first."

"_Fine_. Go ahead Doctor."

Dr. Banner took in a deep breath, not very glad that he was assigned the peacekeeper role. "Um. He was in the laboratory before we arrived." He leaned against the counter behind him, clasping uneasy hands around the edge. "He says his name is Richard-."

Tony corrected him immediately. "-Dick."

Richard scratched a cheek. "I actually prefer Dick."

"Dick, then." Banner breathed through his nose. "He's a hacker. Couldn't stop Stark's program in the system so instead he made it run around in circles."

"Okay…Who let you on this ship, Dick?" asked the Captain, in what Banner dubbed, his patient, 'I am Captain America: Hero' voice.

"Weeelll actually." Three pairs of eyes tracked him as he sat fidgeting on the stool. "S.H.I.E.L.D. kinda captured and subjected me to interrogation, so I broke out of their cage."

Tony's eyebrows rose. "_Interrogation_? What'd you do? Steal the tires off of Fury's best Hummer?" At the stares from Bruce and Steve – even young Grayson gave him a funny look – he defended himself, "What? Fury totally looks like a Hummer guy."

Dick cleared his throat trying to get back to the question at hand. "I kind of landed on the wrong side of a portal. You know. The _Tesseract_ kind."

The three heroes paused, tension building because anything related to the Tesseract meant trouble.

"So you're extraterrestrial…" murmured the Doctor, practiced scientific eye giving the youth another look over.

"Dudes I'm _human_," corrected the teen quickly. "Really not your Area 51 material. Really, really. Mr. Fury already did the tests to prove this."

Steve prompted, "But you're telling us all this because…?"

"Because your boss obviously left you guys in the dark about what happened after the Tesseract blew the super secret facility sky-high," said the boy matter-of-factly. "And I have a proposition."

"Proposition talks again?"

"Stark." The joint reprimand from Bruce and Steve made him glower.

"I snooped through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files thanks to Mr. Stark's little program." The tiny hacker allowed a smirk. "Let me join your Avengers Initiative."

"You're asking the wrong people. We're not the ones creating the exclusive fraternity club." Iron Man rambled, "And they're still ragging on me about how I don't play well with others anyway."

Steve snorted. "You _don't_."

Dick finally dropped the smile in favour of a frown. "But you're the Heroes." He had said it with a capital H.

Tony snapped back. "And you're a _kid_."

"Don't be an ageist-"

Captain America interrupted him. "Heroes. How're you so sure we're heroes anyway?" The uncertain words came out a bit more bitter than he intended.

Blue eyes pierced through them; there was a weight of heavy judgement. "Well if I fell out of a window from a sixty storey building would you save me?"

Their resident industrialist challenged, "That's all on you kid; why'd you stand so close to a window in the first place?"

Bruce sighed at Tony's answer.

"You shouldn't pose those kinds of questions to such a self-absorbed man," grumbled Steve crossly.

"Fine." Stark, exasperated, continued, "I mean, sure. _Sure _I'll catch you like you're a damsel in distress but you know that was a totally legitimate question."

(Heroes in denial._ Great._)

Richard - Dick - (_Robin_) stared at Tony flatly. "_So_ not feeling the aster."


	3. Chapter 3

Avengers Initiative.

Target. Zero. Three.

Odinson, Thor; demigod.

Alias: Thor.

…

_He strategically tapped the correct sequence on the heat-sensor keys of the keyboard, fingers dancing rapidly as he accessed the top secret information – all thanks to 'target zero one', of course. Sitting in the dark room, the light emitted off of the screen casted a strange blue glow over his visage. Even then, it did not hide the obvious interest expressed, a slow thoughtful smile, as he mumbled, "Don't tell me…No way."_

_"Of Norse mythology? _That_ Thor?"_

_Intrigued, he accessed the next column of information._

…

Physique:

Male.

Six foot six inches.

Blond hair.

Blu-

_SKIP._

Notes: Refers to self as Thor, Son of Odin. Insists on 'Asgardian' customs. Weapon of choice: Hammer_ (ref. as Mjölnir)_.

…

_"He even has a_ _Mjölnir. I wonder..." He cracked his knuckles and entered in a few commands into the computer. The system instantly responded and a report of 'first contact' as compiled by a person initialed as 'P.C.' streamed down the screen._

_His eyebrows rose. "This P.C. guy is thorough…The exact time, date and place Thor first drank Earth water…How many calories he consumed on his first 'Earth Day'…He even scanned in a drawing of the embellishments of civilian Thor's belt buckle!"_

_Creepy. _

_Quickly scanning through the rest of the detailed report, he paused, disturbed, "Even B wouldn't mark down the number of times a guy has to answer nature's call!"_

Seriously _creepy. _

_"What kind of government agency condones this kind of observation? Isn't this all just irrelevant data?"_

_Huh._

_"They didn't have one for Stark but he's human…I wonder…Since I'm 'extraterrestrial'…Would they have a file for me?" _

* * *

"What is this?"

All four occupants in the lab turned in unison, instinctively reacting to the authoritative voice.

A moment of silence was observed before-

"Oh it's you," dismissed Stark.

Thor, Son of Odin, crossed his arms, frowning haughtily at Tony. "Your squabbles were heard yonder past this hallway."

"We apologize-" started Dr. Banner.

Dick waved, "Yeah, sorry Mr. Odinson."

"Odinson?" Stark stifled an inappropriate snort. "Smooth."

The demigod seemed to automatically ignore Stark and his insufferable comments and consider the tiny mortal sitting in the lab.

Feeling a mite uncomfortable at being silently examined by a mythological god, Dick piped up, "Yes?"

The blond leered at the boy before questioning Steve and Bruce. "Is this a custom? That Midgardians have young ones, and not proper warriors, to do battle?"

"No. _That_ would be S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Tony, you're not helping," chided Dr. Banner as he explained awkwardly, "Thor, this is Dick Grayson. He's not part of S.H.I.E.L.D., I think, rather…He, um, fell out of a Tesseract portal."

Thor turned his attention back on the boy in contemplation, right hand enclosing air tightly. Awareness straying to Loki's weapon oh-so-conveniently sitting behind Dick, he snorted, "Foolish. Why is this Son of Gray not in a cell then? He could be a _practitioner_."

"I'm right here you know!" Affronted, Dick glowered, "I'm not a practitioner – whatever that means."

"And you entertain him as well!"

"Wait, hold up here." Captain America, compelled to add in his two cents, said, "From what we gathered if he's telling the truth, he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and subjugated to interrogation. So he was in a cell…before he escaped. Likely, Director Fury thought him to be a part of Loki's grand master plan."

"Likely, but not wholly. My adopted brother would not consider a weak child to do his bidding unless he aims to target our compassion."

Said 'weak child' bristled in offense.

"But that means your crazy brother would be willing to pull something like this." Stark grumbled, throwing caution to the wind, "Hey, were you brainwashed into lying to us and you know, gain our trust, join the Avengers Initiative – not that you even have a _chance_ since that's all Fury's baby – then kill us in our sleep?"

"What?"

He repeated impatiently, "Brainwashed by Loki. Get with the program kid. I thought you hacked our files or is that a lie too?"

Burning from the third degree lashing, Dick replied petulantly, "I'm not brainwashed like a zombie. You're the weird ones – arguing about my existence and not doing something useful."

"Hm." Iron Man shrugged, "I'm convinced. A zombie wouldn't have snarky repartee."

"He is certainly not of Asgardian ilk." Thor thought out loud. "He is too…'chatty', like a Midgardian child."

"Being chatty is part of my charm," Dick deadpanned. "I'm telling you guys, I'm one-hundred percent human. Mr. Fury detained me after he found me at his blown-up secret government facility where he created weapons from the Tesseract."

"…Wait. Backtrack. What did you say?" asked Dr. Banner in disbelief. "Did you say weapons?"

"Yeah. Hacker, remember? This info is in their system." Dick commented, seemingly innocent. "I thought you knew."

Steve crossed his arms and nodded grimly, "He's telling the truth. I saw the weapons that they retrieved from the Pegasus facility. It's sitting pretty in the bunker right now."

Dick nodded, "Exactly. And this Tesseract thing, which is obviously something of great import, is in enemy hands right now. I mean…You guys were hand selected to be part of this Avengers Initiative, this Hero team…I thought it would count for something."

"Count for what?" asked the Captain.

Using his best grim voice, Dick said lowly, "That you'd do the right thing and save the world."

* * *

Agent Hill shot up out of her seat and turned towards Fury at the bridge. "Sir. I just received a report from Agent Harley that Anomaly One has escaped from room twenty-oh-seven."

"What?" The Director accessed the cameras to said room and frowned at the image of the boy sleeping. He quickly typed in several commands and the footage of the slumbering child flickered into the live feed from the external camera in the hallway.

Hill took control then and quickly rewound the saved footage and caught the image of the boy running down the hallway. They took note of the time.

Thirty minutes ago.

"Unbelievable." The Director barked out, "How did he manage to hack the security cameras?!"

"One of ours noticed something strange with the camera recording and managed to retrieve this image, sir." Agent Hill showed Fury an earlier still of the boy making faces at the two-way mirror but his eyes were focused on the reflection of the hidden camera. "I'm afraid an hour of our footage has been lost."

"The motion sensors?"

"Disabled."

"And where are Agents William and Dean?"

"They were just found five minutes ago locked in the interrogation room. Knocked out cold." Hill continued her report, "The tracer left on Anomaly One was found in a closet three hallways down."

Fury commanded coldly, "Find and detain. Monitor all cameras. We cannot have a hacker run around our facility."

* * *

Avengers Initiative.

Target. Zero. Two.

Banner, Bruce; Doctor.

Alias: Hulk.

_…_

_Gamma radiation. Collateral damage. Death toll. _

_"…The not so jolly green giant much."_

_ And yet he was considered as having potential even with his shaky control. He _is_ a genius scientist...But could it be the fact that he still followed through as the Hulk and stopped Abomination?_

_"There must be more to this Hulk and Bruce Banner than this data suggests…"_

* * *

_Five aces.  
_

* * *

Robin regretted the words as soon as he heard the start of their verbal reaction.

"Save Midgard? With _them_?" Thor stared pointedly at Iron Man.

"Hey. No hard feelings, big guy. You struck me with your hammer. I reflected your lightning back at you. An eye for an eye."

The demigod snorted, "This is Asgard business and has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with us!" Steve retorted, "Loki may be your brother but he is trying to enslave the entire human race – us."

"To become a team, it will not end well," warned Thor ominously. "This will be a mistake."

Steve frowned, "I can agree with that. Already, professionalism doesn't exist with Stark and-"

"Please, I'm professional. Completely professional. Speak for yourself, _Capsicle_." Tony nudged the doctor. "Say something Bruce."

Thor added, "Yes, Doctor. As a voice of reason, share your insight."

"...I...I can't do this. I'm only here to locate the Tesseract. That's it. What you're suggesting…It won't work." Bruce glared at them, replying sardonically, "The people I'm supposed to protect will run away from me, screaming. What if I, no, _he_ attacks them…? I can't."

"Exactly," compounded the Captain coolly. "Dr. Banner still doesn't have control."

"At least he's _trying_. You, the old guy who was just defrosted, think you can just come in here and decide you're in charge? It doesn't work that way," sneered Stark.

"And what about you? You think for yourself and don't consider others. Do you even hear your own words when you speak?"

This was getting out of hand.

"You guys sure argue a lot. It's like you all agree to disagree." Robin picked at an old playground scab on his knuckles. "Not much gets done around here, huh?"

Banner, Stark, Rogers and Thor turned towards him.

"What a _perceptive_ observation, Son of Gray."

Stark laughed, "Ooh, you got the demigod to use sarcasm. Nice."

Thor grumbled, "Sarcasm?"

Frowning at them, he puffed up, "You guys need to learn how to _interface_ and I can totally teach you!"

There was a strange wry smile twisting the good Captain's boyish features – a mixture of befuddlement and adult patience. "Teach us to what?"

"To interface." Robin repeated, impatient, "You know – _get along_?"

"Oh."

Banner glanced at Rogers who frowned at Stark who smirked at Thor who did not know how to respond to the boy's statement. And as if realizing he wouldn't be getting an agreement any time soon, Robin spun around on the lab stool, all the while muttering petulantly, "You're supposed to be a team of Heroes but you sure don't act like it."

"We're not a team," responded the four of them automatically.

With a foot, Thor stopped the dizzying, spinning chair. The halt in momentum nearly flung the boy out of his seat if not for his deft hands grabbing onto the edge of the stool.

A short sigh punctuated the pause. "No one here is officially a part of this Avengers Initiative that Fury has going," explained Rogers, placating.

"Then why are all of you on this helicarrier if you didn't want to be here in the first place?" asked the Boy Wonder plainly.

Eyes automatically drew to Loki's sceptre that was just out of their reach. "…It's…ah not that simple," explained Banner awkwardly as he tried to tackle the question.

"Then do some simplification, Dr. Banner." He swung his legs out and sneered pompously, "_Adults_."

"Yeah, yeah, you little _monster_," grumbled Stark.

"Your world must be simple," commented Thor.

Unsure if that was an insult, Dick explained, "My world isn't simple. It's not simple _at all_ but I have a direction. I know what I'm doing. You guys are just plain _lost_."

"You're what? In grade school? You probably don't even have _girl problems_ yet." Stark retorted, "Kid, even if your world isn't simple, your life is compared to ours."

Robin held his tongue. _If they only knew._

"Even if it was simplistic, it's not now. I'm stuck here, in another dimension or something, with you 'adults' who're arguing worse than my friends." The 'lost little boy' opened his hands, palms up, and said plainly in a small voice, "And you guys are terrible with kids, you know that right? You haven't once told me that things would be okay."

There was a moment where the men shifted uncomfortably at the _feelings_ before Dr. Banner gently broke him the news, "If you're looking for sympathy, S.H.I.E.L.D. is the wrong place to try and find it."

* * *

_Four realizations._

* * *

A curt, commanding voice sliced through their conversation. "What is going_ on_?" Director Fury stalked into the lab with two armed agents, both immediately taking aim at Grayson. "And you."

"Uhmm…" Eyes widening, the boy raised both hands up, yielding. "Please don't shoot?"

"Drop the innocent act, Mr. Grayson. I suggest you come with me peacefully. Your deception was blown once you left that interrogation room but I'm sure you realize that."

The four 'heroes' still in the room glanced at each other. Whether willingly or not, knowingly or not, the fires were lit.

"What are you doing?" The imposing Asgardian folded his arms, facing the gun-toting agents more daringly. "He is but a child!"

"I can't believe…Whelp. Gotta agree with him there. Don't you think you're being a bit unfair here?" Stark pointed at the guns aimed at the kid's head as he placed himself a calculated half step _out _of the line of fire. "Sure, he might be a bit bratty but I don't think shooting him into a mimic of Swiss cheese will help."

Banner shirked, moving back a few paces, tense, as he glanced from Thor to Stark. "That's really not a good idea."

"You should listen to Dr. Banner," stated the Director coolly. "Thor. Iron Man. Stand down."

Stark twirled a finger in the air. "Oh we're dropping identities too!"

"The dropping of identities?" The blond demigod tilted his head to the side, baffled.

"It means just that, big guy. Don't hurt yourself thinking too hard on it," snarked Stark condescendingly as Thor glowered at him disapprovingly. "But really, Fury, a room full of adults and you go after the kid?"

The nerve just above his left eye patch twitched. "Don't defend what you don't understand. The cards are in my hands right now, Stark."

* * *

_Three step forward._

* * *

Thor rumbled, "Perhaps an explanation first, then."

"I have to agree with Stark and Thor on this one, Director." Rogers stepped in front of Grayson too, hiding him from the view of the gun barrels. "_Weapons_ won't solve this."

"You know, just like how making weapons out of the Tesseract won't help either," jabbed Stark.

_Heroes._ The Director chided critically, "You three do realize you're protecting someone who disabled two able-bodied, fully trained, armed and experienced S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

"Then that only means you have need to employ better, would you not agree young Grayson?" Thor turned to look at Dick only to find him…

Gone.

A pin would have dropped noticed by the sudden hush that fell over the room's occupants.

* * *

_Two step back._

* * *

"…Where did he go?" asked Banner, breaking the awkward pause as all eyes scanned the immediate perimeter of the room.

Captain America bent down and peeked under the lab benches.

"I'm telling you. Fury's breeding master assassins. This is indisputable proof," grumbled Stark as he took quick steps and reached the computer console, opening the security footage for the lab.

Uncrossing his arms, Thor murmured, "I did not see him leave."

"That boy…" Fury motioned the agents that were with him, expression livid. "Find him. _Now_."

"He's right here," interrupted Black Widow coolly, the _real _'Master Assassin', while she frogmarched Grayson back into the laboratory. She nodded at Fury. "Found him one hallway down."

"How did you get all the way out _there_, Dick?" asked Dr. Banner, bewildered, as the boy laughed nervously.

Romanoff's eyes languidly drifted from the Director to the civilian Hulk and stated plainly, "There are doors, Dr. Banner."

* * *

_One to start it all._

* * *

With a nod, Black Widow released her captive but the agents that were at Fury's side like bodyguards clamped down onto the boy's shoulders in a vice grip, holding him in place.

"Hey-!"

Fury ignored his protest. "I'm sure he's told you how he was transported by the Tesseract into our world. What he conveniently _didn't_ tell you was how his ally killed ten people. That is why he needs to be put under surveillance."

Eyebrows knitting together when there was a _lack_ of horrified facial expressions thrown his way – in fact, they were looking rather grim at the news – Dick yelled out indignantly, "Way to not doubt the defenceless fourteen-year-old! I'm telling you, Mr. Fury, I was kidnapped by that wannabe supervillain! I'm not his ally."

"Then _why_ would this 'wannabe supervillain' want to kidnap a 'defenceless fourteen-year-old' - as you so eloquently put it," interrogated Fury, voice dripping of impatience.

Dick smirked in a 'I totally hacked your surveillance tapes' way. "I'm the ward of a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist."

"Great. Where have we heard that before?" asked Steve rhetorically.

Dr. Banner looked past the drama and commented at Stark, "Didn't know you adopted a kid."

Retorting without missing a beat, Iron Man sniped back, "It's called secrecy. Completely kosher and what everyone _wouldn't_ expect from me. Or you know, you should think about getting my tell-all autobiography. To be published in the year twenty-fifteen-"

"Enough!" Fury rounded on Grayson, calculating as the pieces fell into place. "Then if you are indeed a billionaire's ward, what was the purpose of your enemy to kidnap you and bring you here?"

"I wish I knew."

The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. repeated the words back at him, the ones Dick had checked earlier. "What is this 'Justice League'?"

"I would think that'd be self-explanatory, _Director_."

"Mr. Stark," warned Fury.

Dick answered calmly, "They're a team of heroes that protect my world. Like the Avengers Initiative except everyone gets along a lot better. Or at least they sound like they do on interviews."

_"Low-blow."_

"Stark."

Black Widow stared him down just as he jabbed a thumb at Banner. "It was him. He told me to say it."

Ignoring the distraction, Fury continued, "What about 'Pentachoron'?"

Grayson shook his head. "I-"

Fury nodded curtly at the agents before prodding the boy, "Answer me."

The agents that had clamped their hands on his shoulder suddenly tightened their grip to the point where their knuckles turned white. The boy in their clutches squirmed uncomfortably under the sudden pressure on his joints.

"Stop!" Captain America started, outraged, "You're hurting him."

Turning to Fury and receiving the signal, they relaxed their hold once more. Dick sent Steve a grateful look as he rolled his shoulders.

"Well, Mr. Grayson?"

Hesitating, he finally answered, "It's…a device. I'm not sure. But the villain stole this from my guardian when he snatched me too." Dick further elaborated, concentrating on his memories, "I heard from the scientists that it emits a…frequency?"

"Why didn't you present this information in the first place?"

With an exasperated sigh, the boy quirked a smile, "No offense, Mr. Fury, but you guys didn't seem very trustworthy; you still don't."

"Fair enough." Fury pressed on, "And why 'Tesseract'? Where did you hear this word?"

"Aside from the fact that when you guys found me that word was repeated by practically everyone? Well, the guy who kidnapped me mentioned that word too so it was practically my only link."

"Link."

Black Widow interrupted them, expression unreadable, "You want to join the Avengers Initiative."

Fury considered her words just as Steve confirmed his suspicions with an exclamation, "How did you know-?"

"She's good at interrogation," explained Banner.

Natasha continued her train of thought as if she wasn't disrupted, "You want to join the Avengers Initiative for the chance to-"

* * *

_Zero time for reversal._

* * *

Robin should have known that it would take a sudden, violent explosion rocking the entire ship – coupled with a loss of altitude – to stop the pointless interrogation and help them regain their focus.

_Hope it's not too little, too late._

"What is happening?" barked out Fury into the comlink in his ear.

Listening intently to the voices on the other end, Black Widow frowned deeply, "Hostiles on-board." She then added belatedly the results to her investigation into Loki's willing presence on the ship, "Director, Loki wants the Hulk."

All eyes shifted to Dr. Banner as he tried to breathe through the sudden stress and rage that near overwhelmed him at the initial explosion.

As the ship shuddered again, everyone seemed to snap to attention.

"The engine-" started Black Widow.

Stark turned away and made a move to the door. "I'm getting my suit."

"I'm following."

As Iron Man and Captain America dashed off, Fury, with death looming over his shoulders in the form of a fighter jet plane about to launch a missile into the lab, grabbed Dick's elbow forcefully and dragged him away. The agents released the safety from their guns as they ran ahead to cover their boss.

Fury's voice brooked no argument when he all but commanded, "You're coming with me, Mr. Grayson."

* * *

**A/N:** The 'chatty' bit was a wink at _Batman: Under the Red Hood_.


End file.
